The Observatory

The Observatory :
[ Teeny Tiny Things | Artwork Evolution | OVA Scenes | Name Quirks ]
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Welcome! I hope this section is worth the mention. This page is dedicated to finding as many of the little obscure things in Ah! My Goddess as possible for those who aren't so inclined to find such things. (Probably because they're the ones with a life. ^_^) Anything that can be found, I (we)'ll try to find and make known. Well, let's go.

The Teeny Tiny things one might not notice.... First, the hidden little things in Kosuke's works most of us might not notice.
1) Keiichi smokes! At least, he did in the first scene of book 1 until Belldandy appeared. Maybe she made him stop? (More likely her appearance made him forget he ever smoked.)
2) Megumi's dressing style has slowly evolved over time from all unisexual clothes until a more feminine style in her off-campus time.
3) When Skuld first made her appearance in book 5 of the manga, all the Goddesses suddenly started looking a little more child/Skuld-like, the art-style used then for Skuld herself. Maybe Kosuke-san was too tuned towards Skuld then?
4) In book 7, where a Mara-possessed Megumi was being confronted by the Earth Spirit a.k.a Mr. Rat, what Mara turned him into looks more like.... Sonic the Hedgehog? Actually, there is a doll of Sonic in Book 14, page 86, on the upper rightmost corner frame. If you look near the huge straw bomberman doll, you'll see sonic with a bowtie.
5) It seems Kosuke likes creating cameos of people everywhere he makes a crowd with distinguishable faces. Take book 8 for example :
Characters who make an appearance? Zangief (Street Fighter series), Mario (Super Mario Bros.). I think several others such as Ishikawa from Ghost in The Shell made an appearance, but I can't recognize them since I've not read those mangas. (Possibilities are Sentimental Graffiti, Tokimeki Memorial, Appleseed, Battle Angel Alita, Heavy D! From King of Fighters '94 & '98.)
6) In book 8 of the manga, we might or not notice a small SD-Sailormoon doll besides Keiichi's drawing board in one of the scenes. ^_^
7) Jason from Friday the 13th seems to have made an appearance in Book 1 of the Manga, page 92-93.
8) Also, although it may not appear to be it, but the EVA-02 (partial-head only!) from Neon Genesis Evangelion by Gainax seems to have made it into the manga in a crowd. I can't remember where, but I'm searching... it's extremely hard to find. If you do locate it, please email me!
9) Recognize someone's dressing in book 14 of the manga? In pages 164 - 171, we see that Keiichi has to duel with an opponent in a "Virtual" game. That opponent appears to be wearing the same stuff a certain Terry Bogard of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series is wearing.... hm...

10) A Sakura Wars resemblance
For those of you who don't know, Kosuke Fujishima also did the character design for Sakura Wars. After watching the OVA, I couldn't help but feel some of the characters in Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen) were originally designs from Ah! My Goddess.... click here to find out. (There are a few other resemblances, but they aren't AMG!)

11) Runes Runes and more Runes!
We all should know by now that the three Goddesses were all taken from Norse Mythology, that Peorth was derived from a Nordic rune, and by now there would be something else to do with Norse Mythology. Well, enter this link to find out what I've been trying to decipher in one such case...

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This upcoming section was mostly provided by The Other Side of Ah! My Goddess, run by Frik a.k.a Velsper. (Section has been edited to provide for lack of images. Some observations may be mine.)
Idol Densetsu Eriko

Image

This reference is from volume 3, chapter 19, page 65. In the 1st frame from the right, third row, left side of the page, just before Sayoko is surprised by a loud sound.
Can you recognize two characters, possibly more, from other manga/anime?
The one on top left (twin ponytails) is none other than Idol Densetsu Eriko. I personally do not know whole lot about her, but if you want to find more about her, go to: http://members.aol.com/ManoYohko/eriko/eriko.html. (this info was provided by Becky from raccoon@cu-online.com)
The next is the crying policeman on bottom right is ??????? from ???????. I remember seeing him on the advertisement at the end of Dankobon. I just can't remember who he is and where he is from. That was a police story, no not that of Taihoshichauzo or Patlabor, about this weird police station managed by this individual and several other members of police force.
If you have more info about this particular manga, please e-mail me.

Well, well, well. Here it is. Another fine explanation from Mr. Satoshi Amagai (who runs the Ah! Megami-sama Overanalysis site.)
The policeman is Constable Ryoutsu from "Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari-Kouen-mae Hashutsu-sho" (rough translation, "This is Katsushika-ward Kameari-park Police station"), a hugely popular police comedy comic that seems endless. (4-27-98)

Also thanks to Ricardo Kodi Kato: Simply called Kochikame, written by Akimoto Osamu and edited by Shonen Jump for more than 20 years!!! (4-27-98)

The Appearance of Mola Fish!

This reference is from volume 10, chapter 58, page34.

The picture is that of Belldandy holding a baseball bat with four sunfish in the background.

Believe it or not they are the fish Kikuko Inoue drew herself. For one in a million chance you don't know who she is, she is the voice actress for Belldandy in AMG OVA series. She believes that she was a fish in her pre-life and drew a picture of her trademark fish. (this image is from Hitoshi Doi's seiyu page.)

Also this picture of fish can be found on the cover of Kikuko Inoue's album, Inoue Kikuko Classic. (The image of album cover can be found on Satoshi Amagai's Kikuko Inoue page.)

The Mola Fish!

Mola fish appears again. I suppose Mr. Fujishima has quite a fetish(?), if I may call it a fetish, for Ms. Kikuko Inoue. After all, he even made four cut cartoon just for her as well. Well, then again, every man on earth would fall in love with her sweet voice...

Toshinden UFO catcher doll.

This, probably everyone knows by the name, is the infamouse UFO catcher dolls, aka crane game!!!

These particular panels from volume 14, chapter 80, shows Keiichi playing UFO catcher dolls, just like everyone else in Japan... ^_^ The dolls in this machine feature characters from 'Battle Arena Toshinden,' a popular 'Sony Playstation' game. (I know there is remix 'Sega Saturn' game too) The one Keiichi is so hard to get is that of 'Ellis,' written as 'Seris' in manga, but he always ends up getting 'Rungo,' written as 'Randa.' Anyway, it seems that Mr. Fujishima is a fan of UFO catcher doll for a long time. (Oh, from my own observation, Keiichi's Sailormoon doll mentioned above is also a catcher doll.)

Oh My Goddes! It's the Enterprise!

Well, well, well! What IS that model Skuld is throwing. You are right! that is NCC-1701D, Enterprise. This reference is from volume 14, chapter 79, page 63. Skuld is angry at Noble Scarlet for shoving her and making her "kiss" Sentaro....

But why is it that Skuld is throwing "the Enterprise"? This could easily be some other more realistic models, such as F-15 or battle ship Yamato, just like Skuld has thrown in earlier panel. (She has thrown a model of Mercedes sports car.) Of course, you could just say that Mr. Fujishima happened to have the model of Enterprise in his hand and decided to draw it. Well, think again, this is not the only occasion Star Trek is mentioned in AMG.

In next chapter, chapter 80, the same model is shown again, TWICE! On the first panel of page 86 shows a glimpse of Saucer section in lower right corner. (I know what you are going to say, you can't exactly see it. Look for a semi-circular gridlined object.) If you take a closer look, you will see what I mean. In 4th panel, you can clearly see the Enterprise behind Skuld's left hand. (I know you can STILL say that Mr. Fujishima has put them for continuity) (yeah, right!) Here is the punch line. In chapter 108, there are panels which show crews of the Enterprise! (on TV) Incidentally, Data (informations officer, elven ears, pale cyborg guy? Watched Borg yet?) was spelled Beta in AMG!.

After finding more occasions Star Trek is shown, I did a bit of research, however little that may be... I found out that Star Trek was indeed broadcasted in Japan. The series is titled "Star Trek '88: SHIN UCHUU DAISAKUSEN", which, translated, means "Star Trek '88: New Mission In Space." It is shown in Sendai station on Tuesdays at 5:00 AM. They were airing season three by 7/93. So it is conceivable that Mr. Fujishima has become one of those Trekkies as well. (just a joke! ^_^) Above info is from http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/st-tng/ if you want to check more about Star Trek.

Mask Madness!

This reference is from volume 2, chapter 15, page 146.

Look at all the masks that are displayed.

On top right, mask of Kitaro from "Ge-ge-ge no Kitaro" which has been produced a few times (Original was b/w, I think there have been as many as 3 remakes) as manga (by Mizuki Shigeru) and TV shows. It's about a half monster half human boy (I think?). Originally he appeared in the comic strip "Hakaba no Kitaro." (Identified by Satoshi Amagai).

Next to him is Q-chan from "Obake no Q-taro", another manga (by Fujiko Fujio) and TV show that was produced a few times (again b/w original, at least one color remake). (Identified by Satoshi Amagai also).

A row down, you will recognize "Kamen Rider" or "Masked Rider". A live action show with original manga by Ishimori Shotaro. Elsewhere in this episode, there is a reference to "Kani Bubbler" (Crab Bubbler), which was one of the more obscure monster that appeared in the original Kamen Rider show (episode 19, I believe). (Identified by Satoshi Amagai also).

You will recognize "Neko bus" from "Tonari no Totoro" probably, but right below him is Beshi who is a character in Akatsuka Fujio's various manga series, especially "Mohretsu Atarou." (Identified by Satoshi Amagai also).

Also notice M. Bison, known as Vega in Japan, from Street Fighter II next to Neko bus, and Sagat on right bottom. (Velsper did this one. ^_^;)

Keiichi's little box of junk

Image

Things in his junk box.

This reference is from volume 1, chapter 7, page 136.

Keiichi is trying to woo Belldandy (in a more obvious way) and looking into his junk box for a guide book to do so.

Among the things coming out of the box, there is a Barbie doll on top right corner. (I wonder what he does with that... At least the box is not opened... ^_^)

Another thing you should notice is a little magic wand underneath ashtray which belongs to "Creamy Mami."

Also notice a head of cabage out of the box at right bottom corner. (Would YOU keep a head of cabage in a junk box?)
~Added by RanMaFan~
I also noticed a small something that looks like a Sailormoon henshin rod in the lower-middle portion of the frame. It's that little thing with two hearts at the tip. Couple with what was seen earlier, it appears Kosuke-san is (or at least, was affected by) a Sailormoon fan.

Special guests in AMG.

(This is an accurate elaboration on the observation I - RanMaFan - made above.)

Extras, extras!

These references are from volume 8, chapter 51, page 131, 132, and 133. They are not all in one page. (just in case you don't have the original comic book.)

If you see them carefully, you can see; Zangief's body (no face though) in top picture, Super Mario being pushed in right middle picture, Ivan from Giant Robo with his right hand up in right bottom picture, Lord Shocking Alberto right under dialogue box in left bottom picture.

BTW, if you could, watch English version of Giant Robo. IMO, I think Manga(C) has done very good job on dubbing.

The many (other) faces of Belldandy

Image

This image is from volume 13, chapter 75, page 93.

Sayoko is asking if Belldandy is a magician (more of a witch though...) after seeing Belldandy coming out of a mirror.

Anyway, take a good look at Super-Deformed Belldandy around Sayoko and Belldandy herself.

From left to right: Creamy Mamy, Minky Momo, Magic Princess Sally, and Akazukin Chacha.

Just in case you don't know who they are, they are all famous (or popular) TV anime show characters who use magic powers.

Captaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Planet!

Image

This image is from Volume 8, Chapter 52, page 180. Captain Planet invades Japan in form of Pinball machine!!!

(Wow, American animation in Japan, beside Walt Disney that is.)
*In addition, X-Men was broadcasted in Japan for a while.

Afternoon References!

If you noticed this, you are really looking through every single page and panel of this series. (Please get a life, because I got none... ^_^;)

Well, in one of the manga notice two stacked books on the floor. You are most likely not to be able to read the title of the book on top by looking at this picture. But if you zoom in, you can clearly read the title written "Afternoon."

Yes, the Afternoon magazine is the one that publishes AMG monthly. By now you are probably saying, "so what? Every manga artist puts a copy of his magazine from time to time." Well, as a matter of fact, this is the FIRST time Mr. Fujishima has put Afternoon magazine on AMG. After finding this out, I looked through each volumes and my uncollected Afternoon chapters to see if there are more of this occasions. I was, however, unable to find any more. There were some other occasions where other magazines are shown, such as Run-Run, Shonen Dairaga, Shonen UP, Shonen Down, Lady Swai, Gekkan Chafuchin, etc...(whether these are actual titles of the magazines or not is another matter. ^_^) but this is the first and only time that Afternoon is shown. If you have seen any other panels that has Afternoon magazine in, please tell me about it. I hate to misinform others.....

(Note from R.M.F - Due to a broken link, I'm unable to provide that image....)
Also, Skuld makes another reference to Afternoon comics in volume 16 as she returns to Asgaard to fix the time problem. (This was done by me, the RanMaFan! ^_^)

Other references :
In book 17 of the manga, Skuld re-constructed Banpei's love interest (a stationary greeting robot) into Robo-girl. At one point, she tried to (unsuccessfully) fire a pair of missiles from.. *ahem*... her chest. (which were actually her power sockets) I found this bit of info by a fluke, where an old '80s anime called Tranzor Z had a female robot called Aphrodite A (what a name.) which (actually did) fire missiles from its chest....

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Artwork Evolution When Ah! My Goddess first started out, Kosuke drew most of the characters that first appeared wearing baggy or large clothes, and the characters themselves slightly dumpy, less shapely. They had longer, triangulated/diamond shaped eyes and (for the women) more prominent eyelashes. Their noses were also slightly more squarish and larger than more recent volumes. The hair too, was considerably simplified and not as detailed as present art, and hairstyles were much simplified. (Especially Urd.) Tamiya too, was less bulky, had a shorter face and a darker shadow over his eyes.
Evolution took place almost immediately at the end of book 1, and in book 2 when Urd appeared, the work changed slightly more, and everyone got a little taller. The hair was, however, still the same. Urd's hair had almost no detail whatsoever. This continued until book 5, where the appearance of Skuld marked a temporary change in art style where Belldandy began to look more like Skuld, but hair complexity was increased.
By the end of book 5 and the middle of book 6, the characters had basically evolved into their current state, although minor evolutions continued through to book 15. Skuld, for instance, began to look less like a young child and more like a teenager. Everyone began to grow a little taller, their hair became the now-famous Kosuke style of complexity and beauty, their noses became a little more slender and elegant. Eyes became less triangular/diamond shaped and more rounded. The eyebrows still haven't changed much, although some of them have thinned out through time.
The Goddess markings on Belldandy were seen to change in size whenever she employed her powers in the earlier series', but by book 6 they had stabilized and took on a permanent size, which would then remain as it was whenever her powers were employed from then on. The clothes also became more stylish and fitting, as well as more detailed.
Later characters that came out haven't changed much though, since most of them were created by the time Kosuke had warmed up, although faces began to become more streamlined and angular, and less rounded.
Also, The hair complexity changed even past book 7 and 8. You'll notice that most of the characters with long, flowing hair (the Goddesses and Mara) began to have straighter, smoother, more detailed hair which looked as if a hairband were used to push the hair up into a permanent position near the forehead. A kind of fringe, you might say.

Artwork Quirks
(This section was also provided by the Other Side of Ah! My Goddess)

Tails are obvious.

Tails are missing in image on the right.

They've returned.

In chapter 73 and 74 of volume 13. Urd is wearing this knock-out dress that has logo and insignia of British Royal Navy. Well, but there is a bit of problem Mr. Fujishima ran into when he drew picture. (I don't know what exactly happened, but I think he just slipped... ^_^)
If you see very carefully on panel #1, you will see that Urd has a striped band on her left thigh, but in panel #2, the band on her thigh is gone!!! Then it reappears agan on her left thigh, in panel #3, panel #4.
In addition, the propellar like accessory on her back disappears on panel #3, then comes back on panel #4.

Another thing I find it quite unusual is that Urd is wearing the same dress in chapter 74 as in chapter 73 when everyone else is wearing different dress. There is a mention of time change in content, Skuld told Sentaro that he came over everyday, (not really complaining though ^_^). That means it has been at least two days or more has passed since the chapter 73. Maybe Mr. Fujishima like the dress so much he decide to use it again... well, who knows.

Off the topic, Skuld also mentions in this chpater that she does not go to school here, meaning on earth. Does that mean they have school of Goddess/God up there where they TEACH you to become a Goddess/God? Something to think about... ^_^
(R.M.F's Note - Read my Goddess Case Study to read my views.)

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[ Teeny Tiny Things | Artwork Evolution | OVA Scenes | Name Quirks ]

The OVA scenes
Well, many people probably know by now that anime OVAs and Movies are normally made from bits and pieces of the manga, stitched together and polished to a high sheen. Many thanks to those who make it possible for us to enjoy such things.
In order of manga volumes, here are the scenes I've managed to recognize. The OVA scenes were based only up to book 7 as far as I can tell, so don't expect much. The scenes are named after their significance. The Opening scenes are based on all the mangas so far though. I'll only put the cameos' appearances and names in though.

Opening song : Scenes and appearances - Keiichi slipping on a can and Belldandy calling him into her arms, Skuld on a high tech broom, Keiichi's reaction and the resulting stars around him (Belldandy kisses Keiichi instead of hugging him though in the OVA), Mara, Yamano Satoko, Banpei-kun RX, Chieko the Memory Spirit/Body, the Evil Urn, the Booster demons, Mr. Rat (named Ganchan in the mini Goddess adventures), the Earth Spirit 3rd class (Mr. Rat), the lecturers (but one of them makes an appearance in OVA 4), Diana Lacrede (sorry, my chinese text doesn't allow for very accurate translations for English names...) and David Puteni (those go-kart racing people from the Los Angeles Institute of Technology L.A.I.T).

Book 1 : (All in OVA 1) The Call, Belldandy's appearance, The Wish (Quote : "I wish a Goddess like you could stay by my side forever!), Keiichi being kicked out of the Men's Dorm and finding a place to stay, Finding the Temple, Megumi arrives, Megumi coming over everyday, The competition with Sayoko begins!

Book 2 : Belldandy's quote from OVA 3 "The Goddess of Luck doesn't smile upon those who are only intent upon winning!" with accompanying scene, OVA 3's The Super Motorcross meet, Megumi suggesting the Beach date, Part of OVA 2's The First beach date, Sayoko saying Belldandy is a bother to Keiichi, The malfunctioning of the Ultimate Force (kyose ryoku), The video tape and Urd arrive, Urd's punishment by Kami-sama, OVA 4 & 5's The gift of a ring to Belldandy.

Book 3 : OVA 1's The great homewarming party. (Instead of being for a home warming session though, this is when Keiichi's studying for an exam.), Aoshima's roses for Belldandy, Urd's dressing for the Super Motorcross (Look at carefully in the background (Page 72) at the center of the top frame during the recruitment festival before Sayoko's appearance.)

Book 4 : OVA 3's The Creation of Aoshima Formula, or the Four Wheels Club (4WC). OVA 2's Keiichi sudden feelings for Sayoko, the screaming torment afterwards as he tries to shake off the magic's effects.
(In the manga, it was Mara's orb of love balance that caused Keiichi to fall for Sayoko temporarily, then tell Belldandy to "leave" before suddenly crying out that he didn't want her to leave. In the OVA, it was Urd's magic potion that caused Keiichi to fall for Sayoko and tell Belldandy to "leave" before suddenly crying out, running to the beach, and finally recovered. Actually, there's not that much of a difference between Urd and Mara, come to think of it.... ^_^U)

Book 5 : OVA 2's Skuld's Arrival (But Keiichi replaces Urd in it.), Keiichi's quote from OVA 2 : "I feel fortunate with you Goddesses around....", OVA 4's Skuld's Bug Catcher (that rice cooker thing), OVA 1's The near-miss car accident, OVA 5's Suspension of Urd's Goddess License.

Book 6 : OVA 1's The Temple's reconstruction, Skuld's "Helping" to (re)build the bike. (But in the manga, she fails.)

Book 7 : OVA 4 and 5's Belldandy's knitting of a sweater for Keiichi, The Gateway to Heaven and the Return to Heaven (although Belldandy replaces Urd), The Ultimate Magic Circle,

That's it!

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[ Artwork Quirks | OVA Scenes | Name Quirks ]

Observations : Names and References in the series
Opening : This section was possible only because of the Ah! Megami-sama Overanalysis site. Permission has been granted to use his section. Content has been edited slightly. Thanks, Satoshi-san!

Goddess Names : These will be covered in the Case Study site.

Humans' Names :
Tamiya, Ootaki, Aoshima, Hasegawa, Imai and Fujimi are all names from plastic model manufacturing companies, like the names in Magic Knights Rayearth and DragonBall Z (one of which is cars and the other almost anything you can think of!).

The 3 Ninjas :
Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi are all the names of the shinkansens (Bullet Trains) in Japan.

Other Names :
Apparently, Kosuke Fujishima likes to honour some people by putting their names into his series under a different kanji (those characters originally derived from the Chinese language).

Quoted from the Ah! Megami-sama Overanalysis site :
The most famous one is perhaps Honda Chieko who appears in ch. 48 (AMS vol 8), also a cameo appearance in opening credits and has a song in Tokuten-oh CD. Real Honda Chieko is a voice actress, who incidentally sings the song in Tokuten-oh.

Hasegawa Sora whose name is similar to Hasegawa Mokei modelling company is also a lyricist who has done lyrics for most of the AMG songs.

Yoshida Shohei is the bookwormish boy who appears in ch. 42 (AMS vol 6, OMG volume 4 part 3). The real Yoshida Shohei is Fujishima-sensei's manager from Koudansha publishing company (he'll be in charge of collecting manuscripts and doing other liaison duties between the company and the artist). He can also be heard as one of the vocalist in "Tatakae! Banpei-kun RX!", a song in Tokuten-oh CD.

Yamagata Mitsuru, Nekomi Tech's baseball team captain (AMS vol 10, ch 58). Probably stems from Hanagata Mitsuru, a famous baseball manga/anime character in "Kyojin no Hoshi", which was an extremely popular series in late '60s.

Iwata Mitsuo is the real (?) name of Mr. Rat, revealed in the mini-story series "The Adventures of Mini-Goddesses." One may guess that the rat munching on something in OAV 2 might be him. Real Iwata Mitsuo is a voice actor who incidentally plays Mr. Rat in Tokuten-oh CD. His role list isn't extensive, but he has the lead role in "Goldenboy" OAV series.

(R.M.F's note : In the Mini-Goddess adventures, the voice actor is Iwata Mitsuo, but Mr. Rat's name has been changed to Gan-chan, however still retaining the a Kanji found in Iwata Mitsuo's name. Incidentally, the kanji used for Gan-chan's "gan" is the word used for boulder in Chinese.)

Observation : The things in the manga compared to past TV Shows in Japan.

Urd's "The Terrible Master" Robot :
The show on the big screen TV that inspired Urd to destroy Keiichi's house with a robot (AMG manga ch 35 vol 5, Dark Horse Terrible master Urd part 2) is Ultra Seven, a live action show that aired around 1968. (date approximate) Similar to Ultraman in concept, Ultra Seven was/is considered to be a lot more cerebral and appealing to more mature audiences (well, not that mature). So much so that it didn't do as well as Ultraman (kids found it boring) and Tsuburaya production stayed away from the Ultraman genre for several years. The robot shown is a slightly modified King Joe, which is I believe the very first Gattai-robot in history, being formed by fusing 4 spacecrafts. In the original AMG!, Ultra Seven is uttering "Heaa!!", a meaningless but typical Ultra Seven vocalization, but in the Dark Horse version, he is uttering "Curses!". This is not inappropriate. King Joe was the first foe to defeat Ultra Seven, and in that scene, Ultra Seven is in dire trouble. I wonder if people of Studio Proteus knew this? My hats off, in that case!
Incidentally, the hero's method of transformation to Ultra Seven was by putting on a special goggle, and in AMG manga 32, Skuld utters the same word ("Duwa!!") when she puts on her HUD.

Urd's favorite show : Big Z
This is the TV show that Urd is watching as Skuld is making Banpei-kun (ch 43 in vol 7 of AMG manga (Another reference about it can be found in Dark Horse's Miss Keiichi series). It is of course, Big X, a classic by the late master Osamu Tezuka (comics as well as serialized TV airing 1964-65). The show was about a hero who would inject a drug to make his body as tough as steel, and also to enlarge to gigantic size, the strength and size depending on dosage (5 units being maximum). Later on, the drug was changed to an inbibable form. Either way, it is no wonder that drug addict/maniac Urd loves the show. It is tailor made for her tastes.

Banpei-kun Marine Parts "Blue 6-go"
A most esoteric reference, but my favorite, "Blue 6-go" (appearing in ch 50, vol 8 of ams, also featured in dark horse AMG part IV vol 2 cover) obviously stems from Ao no Roku-go. This was a serialized manga that ran in Shonen Sunday in late 60s by Satoru Ozawa (all this must be taking up valuable memory space in my head!) about futuristic submarine combat. His earlier series, "Submarine 707" was also a classic, but there was more longitudinal plot in Blue 6. However, due to Mr. Ozawa's health, the series ended early, much to my everlasting disappointment. The whole series was like a never-ending version of underwater combat scenes from The Hunt for the Red October, and was in many ways a precursor to the style of space combat in later manga and anime. One of the story in Blue 6 is the story of "Yamato wonder", in which bad guys repair the old Japanese navy battleship Yamato as an 'unsinkable' submarine. Sound familiar? This was written years before Reiji Matsumoto brought us Space Cruiser Yamato.

The Biblical description of Armaggedon
In AMG ch 35 vol 5 (Dark Horse AMG Terrible master Urd vol 2), God is describing to Belldandy what would happen if the Lord of Terror returns.
Earth shall be rent asunder and shall rock upon its axis. After 7 days of fire all shall be destroyed.
7 days of fire must be a reference to Nausicaa of Valley of Winds (By Studio Ghibli), but rock upon its axis (chijiku wa nejimagari..)? Hey wait a minute, that first sentence is the opening narration for Conan, the future boy (whose OP by the way had the most terrific bass riff in the history of OPs), at least in Japanese it is. I haven't seen the English version of Conan to see if that was preserved. In other words, this little dialogue is in homage to the great master Hayao Miyazaki dai dai-sensei.

A little monster doll in the shed
In the episode "Final exam" (AMG ch 19 vol 3), when Urd is looking for a broom by going through what appears to be a shed, one of the thing being cast aside is a little doll that looks a bit like Gumby. Now my memory is on autopilot here, so I'm not 100% certain, but this appears to be none other than alien "Banderu" from a little known live action TV show Captain Ultra. (Though amazingly, I did find a laser-karaoke video of its theme song in a Japanese karaoke house once! Even more amazingly, I remembered the song! But I digress... ^_^;) It was based on manga by the same name (forgot author), and both manga and TV show didn't last long. The show, however, had a spaceship called 'Spiegel', which as far as I can tell, is the first spaceship that could separate into subparts (3 parts). Now, the aforementioned ultra seven also had a plane that could separate into 3 parts, and I don't remember which came first. Pioneering, nevertheless. Are you getting tired of reading about the roots of anime yet? ^_^
(PS I found out Captain Ultra preceeded Ultra seven)

The Evil Urn
The urn that was the key to awakening Urd's bloodline as the lord of terror (Terrible master Urd vols 1-3, AMG chs 34-36, vol 5) is none other than the urn from Hakusshon Dai Maou, a TV comedy series by Tatsunoko production in the 60s. In that series, a genie appeared whenever someone sneezed near the urn. It is also interesting that yawning initiated the urn's power in OMG. In the original TV series, yawning summoned another genie in the shape of a little girl ("Akubi-chan" or "Little yawn"). Arguably, Akubi-chan could be described as an ultimate destruction program, since she was out of control most of the time. I have a vague feeling that this series might have reached US. Does anyone know?

The Booster Demons combined
The booster demon in the shape of the octopus (AMG ch 31) eventually becomes named Sudaaru. This was the name of a giant octopus monster from another old (b&w even!) Japanese monster series Ultra Q airing in 1966.

Now : The other name quirks you might not have noticed (By the Goddessfan. ^_^)

The Heavens : Why call it The Heavens? Why not Heaven (singular), or Asgaard (The Norse term for Heaven)? Perhaps this is because while Ah! My Goddess focuses mostly on Norse culture, Kosuke-san was planning to make things a little more equal by using only one branch of Heaven in the manga. It might be that the Heavens are divided into several sections, each for each religion, and it just so happens he ended up using the Norse one.